The lack of coherency in our recruitment strategy

[Albertbarich]

The only strategy I care about is backing Conte.

If he is happy then so am I.

 

[ultimateloner]

The strategy is obvious.
We buy players aged under 27 who performed well in a top-5 league.
Our main concern is re-sale value, so age and CV are the stand-outs, because everything else is hard to quantify and alot is subjective.
It's a policy that makes sense from a money-ball perspective, since our goal seems to be 'to get the most points with the lowest wage bill'.
It is for this reason that we seperate recruitment (a domain under DOF) from coaching (a domain under head coach); we recognize that recruitment is systems-driven, whereas performance is individuals-driven. The incentives and metrics of measuring 'success' for both is also different; in recruitment, it's about what you can sell the player for in the future, not neccesarily what he delivered on the pitch. It's market-dependent. Performance on the other hand is about fit-in-a-team.
It would follow from the above that for recruitment, now is a time to minimize spending, because of the uncertainty in future transfer fees (assets are taking a down-turn, covid affecting future revenues etc).
Also a money-ball approach tends to produce many duds, because essentially you are trying to make multiple bets on un-proven players.
While I think a transfer approach like ours is relatively safe, it wouldn't be sufficient to get yout into Europe consistently; money-ball can only go so far, because the marginal quality (the 'star-quality') is what makes and breaks elite-level games, and you simply have to pay up for those quallities.

 

[AnotherSpursFan]

Eh? By all accounts Kulu and Bentancur are almost done, and we've had ITK that could be one or even more in tomorrow. Plus hopefully shifting out some players who aren't in Conte's plans.

I doubt Conte wanted those two rejects.
Thats what they are, folks need to stop kidding themselves. Nothing has changed. Waited 30 days to buy rejects!

 

[Sevens]

A bigger problem with it is that the transfer window was months after the 2-points-from-8-games bit.

We'd won 18 points from the next 12 games under Redknapp, and that put us higher up the table. It's not quite the "in the relegation zone" picture it paints, but rather our trajectory had improved.

The biggest problem with the statement is this:



That suggests that we didn't invest in that summer, then 'suddenly found money' in the winter window. Absolute horseshit.
That summer we'd bought:

- Modric £16m
- Pavluychenko £14m
- Bentley £15m
- Gomes £7.8m
- Dos Santos £5m
- Corluka £8.5m
plus whatever we paid for Cesar as a backup keeper

That's back in 2008's money. I have no idea (well, I do) why someone would suggest spending over £65m in 2008 was "failing to invest". It seemed to me that Ramos was given his players and couldn't get them to play. Behind all the above was Darren Bent at some £16.5m the previous season, too, so it wasn't like he had no players or spending - and it's not like most of them didn't turn out great under Harry.

Wasn't that also the Summer we sold Berbatov and Keane for £50m?

The main issue people fail to understand (in life, let alone football) is that money doesn't grow on trees. We can't spend what we don't have, and Levy won't extend the credit line to purchase players. He'll do so for capital assets, but not for an asset that will depreciate to potentially nothing. He is very prudent, and from a not doing a Leeds perspective, that makes sense.

However, there are times where a calculated risk could be worth it. Speculate to accumulate. But Levy doesn't do that either. So in reality Levy and ENIC don't actually invest. They'll allow a manager to spend based on player sales and whatever other spare cash there is. ENIC, Joe Lewis etc. will never dip into their own reserves to invest in playing staff. It all comes from operational cashflow.

 

[Sevens]

We must have a 1 in 25 success rate in our recruitment. As people have said , there is still no clear plan , we are about to have another Gedson Fernandes , Carlos Vinicius moment . Have we really brought in a director of football who is now going to back to his old club to help relieve them of squad players ( he brought ) that they no longer want . What a joke of a club .

So do most other clubs. We just focus on our own. We've actually had a quite refresh of the first XI over the last three years, and that team is battling for a top four finish. Our problem is still lack of balance and that our best players are the ones who have been at the club for a while. But we aren't in a position where we can go out and spend £80m on one player and have that player not live to the billing.

I've believed ENIC are a massive problem, to us actually winning silverware, for a long time but there are some serious issues in the marketplace and although we can all see fundamental problems in the first XI, it's very hard to see who we can realistically (and that's the key word) get that would almost certainly be a sure thing to improve us.

My concern with us buying players from Italy, is that I genuinely can't remember the last time a player came from that league to the Premier League and was outstanding. In the 90s their cast offs came to the Premier League and were a cut above. But those days are long gone. Jorginho's done well for Chelsea, but can't think of many others?

 

[ILS]

I agree with your valuations and we will have competition but that is the going the rate for top teams to buy ready made premership players. Also we will need to generate some funds by selling players who still have a decent value attached to them.

 

[whenstevewentup]

So do most other clubs. We just focus on our own. We've actually had a quite refresh of the first XI over the last three years, and that team is battling for a top four finish. Our problem is still lack of balance and that our best players are the ones who have been at the club for a while. But we aren't in a position where we can go out and spend £80m on one player and have that player not live to the billing.

I've believed ENIC are a massive problem, to us actually winning silverware, for a long time but there are some serious issues in the marketplace and although we can all see fundamental problems in the first XI, it's very hard to see who we can realistically (and that's the key word) get that would almost certainly be a sure thing to improve us.

My concern with us buying players from Italy, is that I genuinely can't remember the last time a player came from that league to the Premier League and was outstanding. In the 90s their cast offs came to the Premier League and were a cut above. But those days are long gone. Jorginho's done well for Chelsea, but can't think of many others?

You say a refresh , our starting 11 still consists of Lloris , Dier , Davies , Winks , Son, Kane , Lucas . 3 or 4 of these players are squad players and shouldn’t be anywhere near the first 11. Add Hojberg , Emerson , Doherty , ( not required standard . It’s only really Romero and skipp that have potential to be regulars in a top 6 team pushing for 4th place .

 

[dudu]

So do most other clubs. We just focus on our own. We've actually had a quite refresh of the first XI over the last three years, and that team is battling for a top four finish. Our problem is still lack of balance and that our best players are the ones who have been at the club for a while. But we aren't in a position where we can go out and spend £80m on one player and have that player not live to the billing.

I've believed ENIC are a massive problem, to us actually winning silverware, for a long time but there are some serious issues in the marketplace and although we can all see fundamental problems in the first XI, it's very hard to see who we can realistically (and that's the key word) get that would almost certainly be a sure thing to improve us.

My concern with us buying players from Italy, is that I genuinely can't remember the last time a player came from that league to the Premier League and was outstanding. In the 90s their cast offs came to the Premier League and were a cut above. But those days are long gone. Jorginho's done well for Chelsea, but can't think of many others?

Salah is one example.

 

[thelak]

Genuine question. When have we been mired in a relegation battle?

they had 2 points from 8 games when I joined


triffic

 

[dudu]

they had 2 points from 8 games when I joined


triffic

Hardly 'mired in a relegation battle' but even if we were - that is not the only time we have spent money as per the posters claim.

 

[thelak]

Hardly 'mired in a relegation battle' but even if we were - that is not the only time we have spent money as per the posters claim.

you’ve Neva had it so good

im not a fackin wheeler dealer

 

[dudu]

you’ve Neva had it so good

im not a fackin wheeler dealer

Are you ok?

 

[ljinko888]

The Ndombele signing is sort of like a personification of what we have become.

We have never recovered from the departure of Mousa Dembele. The most unique central midfielder I've ever watched and someone who at the peak of Poch Spurs was the heartbeat of the team. It's three years now since he left the club. We signed Ndombele six months after with the hope and expectation he could be the successor. He certainly had the languid elegance on the ball, ability to drift past players and beat the press and there was even hope he could be better than Dembele by offering some more decisiveness in the final third. It didn't turn out that way at all.

Glimpses of his natural ability on the ball have kept us believing that he could burst into life but poor fitness and a lack of improvement on his off the ball work is impossible to ignore for too long. Poch made Dembele a better player by harnessing his natural gifts while eradicating some of his earlier weaknesses under previous managers in which Dembele was the first to admit he wasn't always the hardest worker. Maybe Poch could have done the same with Ndombele because it was ultimately he who signed him. Not Mourinho or Conte. But when we made that decision to change manager so soon into the season and go for a different style of football and different personality of coach it changes the blueprint totally.

Wanyama for £12M was an absolute bargain in his first season where he was one of the best midfielders in the country and bossed big games. The Spurs of that point in time had physical power, presence, technique, guile and awareness which has totally been lost. We had Dier doing a solid job in the middle of the park the season before but Poch who worked with Wanyama before saw him as an upgrade. Injuries robbed us of more years of Wanyama but those clever signings where we make incremental changes to the team have been neglected since then too.

 

[AnotherSpursFan]

We would have won EPL if Wanyama and Dembelee had stayed fit

 

[absolute bobbins]

I doubt Conte wanted those two rejects.
Thats what they are, folks need to stop kidding themselves. Nothing has changed. Waited 30 days to buy rejects!

Your opinion of what Conte wants and an empty sack is worth the sack.

 

[danielneeds]

I know Conte is all about the system and set patterns, but now we’ve got rid of Dele, Lo Celso, Ndombele, I do look at our squad and it’s incredibly workmanlike. Kane’s all-round class aside, the rest of our squad really lacks any guile or magic.

 

[dontcallme]

I know Conte is all about the system and set patterns, but now we’ve got rid of Dele, Lo Celso, Ndombele, I do look at our squad and it’s incredibly workmanlike. Kane’s all-round class aside, the rest of our squad really lacks any guile or magic.

It is, but were these players creating anything for us this season?

 

[danielneeds]

It is, but were these players creating anything for us this season?

No, of course not. I just mean by taking even their potential out of the squad you look at the rest of it now and it’s all hard running, good workers. There’s really very little game changing ability in there. It’s a squad that’s gonna have to rely on Conte’s system and hard work to win games.

 

[dontcallme]

No, of course not. I just mean by taking even their potential out of the squad you look at the rest of it now and it’s all hard running, good workers. There’s really very little game changing ability in there. It’s a squad that’s gonna have to rely on Conte’s system and hard work to win games.

True.

I wonder if the first step is getting the right attitude into the squad. Peak Poch years had a very determined and together team. The work rate was constantly present.

So, hopefully getting a squad with the right attitude is just the first step.

Adding real quality and ingenuity has to be the next step.

 

[danielneeds]

True.

I wonder if the first step is getting the right attitude into the squad. Peak Poch years had a very determined and together team. The work rate was constantly present.

So, hopefully getting a squad with the right attitude is just the first step.

Adding real quality and ingenuity has to be the next step.

Yes, maybe that’s the way to do it. You introduce lavishly gifted players before the team culture is ingrained and they can just coast by on their talent.

i still think we will drop needless points this season against well set defences and it could cost us 4th.